Guide-casing for boiler-tube cleaners.



. l PATENTED JANLzz, 1907. M. Assign L P. P. BIKMANN, JB. GUIDE cAsING PoR BOILER TUBE CLEANERS,

.APPLICATION FILED MAR. 19, 1906.

WITNESSES:

i ATTORNEY'.

1HE Nmzms PETERS co.. wAsnlNaTaN, u! c.

UNITED PATENT: OFFICE.

MICHAEL ASSEN ANDv FREDERICK vl). EIKMANN, JR., OF ST.. LOUIS,

MISSOURI.

GUIDE-CASING. FOR BOlLER-TUBE CLEANERS..

Specification of Letters Patent.

`Patented. Jan. 22, 1907.

Applicationfiled` March 19, 1,906. Serial No. 306,820.

fulf Improvements in- Guide Oasings 'for Boilerflaube- Cleaners, of which the following` is a full, clear, andexact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, formingy a part hereof.

Our invention has relation to improve! ments in guide-casings forboiler-tube clean-y ers and it consists in the novel construction and arrangement of'parts more fully setforth in the specification and pointed out in theclaims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a middle ver# tical section through a water-tube boiler,

taken onthefline 1 1 of Fig. 2, showing our:

invention applied thereto. Fig. 2' isa front elevation of- Fig. 1., Fig- 3 is a side elevation of the casing detached with part ofthe wall broken away, and Fig. 4 is a sectional detail` showing the water-supply hose cou-pledv to the hydraulicor turbine-driven tube-cleaner confined? within the casing;

The object of ourinvention is to provide a casing which will effectively and positively guide into position a boiler-tube cleaner,

whereby the necessity ofhandling the cleanerl f or bringing it into contact with the? hands of'` the operator' is entirely dispensed with, thewallsof' the casing serving to protect the hands against injury shouldg unauthorized persons set the cleanerlinto motion. l

A furthery object is to facilitate the insertion of the cleaner into. its proper tube of the boiler andii'nally to facilitate the cleaning of water-tubes (or fire-tubes) generally, all as will hereinafter more fully appear from a detailed description of they invention, which is as follows:

Referring to the drawings, B represents a section of a water-tube boiler, the same being provided with water-tubes 1, terminating in the supporting-plate 2, between which and the head 3 of the boiler is a water space or chamber 4. The ends of the tubes l project a fraction of an inch beyond the outer face of the inner plate 2, access to the tubes being had through hand-holes 5, formed in the head 3 opposite thereto. To clean atube,it is acommon practice to pass a cleaner through a hand-hole 5 opposite the tube, onehand being inserted through an adj acenthole 5 into the water-space 4 to properly guide it into the tube to be cleaned. Should the cleaner be accidentally set into motion while being thus ,i held in the hand in the space 4 before it is inserted into its proper tube, the hand thus guiding it would be in danger vof injury or mutilation, and it is to avoid such accidents 1 that our casingwas devised. l A very common form of cleaner is one such as shown in the drawings, consisting of a cylinder 6, one end of which is connected, I by means of a coupling 7, to a water-supply hose 8, leading to any source of water-supply, (operating under a head or positive pressure,) the current passing through the hose setting `into, operation a turbine-motorA within the cylinder 6, tothe shaft 9 of which motor are pivotally attached a series of cutters 10, which remove the incrustation O, formed within the tube, by their centrifugal action. This form of turbine-cleaner is well known on the market and requires no detailed descrip# tion, as it forms no part of our invention, but is here alluded to to better illustrate the application of our invention. This consists of a tubular casing 11, termina-ting at its inner end in a iiange 12, which is adapted to close over the projecting end of a tube 1, the casing being inserted through the hand-hole 5 and being of sufiicient length to project a suitable distance outside the head 3 when fully inserted. That portion of thev peripheral surface of the casing confined within the water-chamber 4 is provided with discharge openings or slots 13, through which the washwater escapes into the boiler when the tubes are being cleaned. The forward portion of the casing 11 is provided with a pair of lugs 14, between which is pivotally mounted a latch 15, whose inner terminal head 16 is forced by a spring 17 to engage the wall of an adjacent hand-hole 5 when the casing is inserted into any hand-hole, as previously described. By this means the casing becomes locked in position once being inserted into a hand-hole. The outer end of the casing is provided with a contracted hollow screwtip or nipple 18, through which the hose 8 may pass freely, the space between the hose IOO and walls of the said nipple, however, being suHiciently closed or contracted against any material passage of the wash-waters which must iiow out through the openings 13.

The operation of the device is best described by a reference to Figs. 1 and 4. The casing 11 is iirst passed over the end of the hose 8 until the hose projects a suitable distance beyond the rear end of the casing, after which the coupling 7 is attached thereto and screwed to the cylinder 6 of the motor, whereupon the cylinder, with its cutterheads 10, is drawn wholly into the casing, Fig. 4. Thus the casing serves as a housing for the cylinder 6 and its cutter-heads, and by attaching the casing opposite any particular tube 1 the cleaner is in position to enter it without further handling on the part of the operator. All that is then required is for the attendant or helper to turn the water on into the hose, when the pressure or hydrodynamic head will not only set the cutters into rotation, but the cylinder will advance through the tube until the whole length thereof is cleaned. When that is done, the operator stopsthe motor, pulls back the hose, and draws the cleaner back into the casing, when the latter may be removed and inserted opposite another tube, the latch 15 always locking with the walls of an adjacent hand-hole. Thus the entire series of boilertubes may be cleaned without the necessity of the hands of the operator ever coming in contact with the dangerous .cutters of the cleaner. `When the boiler is cleaned, the

cylinder 6 may be uncoupled from the hose and put away, and the casing may be hung up with the hose, or by unscrewing the casing 11 from the nipple 18 the casing may be put away and the nipple alone hung up with the hose. The nipple, while acting as a seal against the discharge of the waste waters through the outer end of the casing, at the same time serves to prevent the accidental withdrawal of the cleaner through said front end, so that the cleaner remains permanently incased and may be handled with impunity until the end of the cleaning operation. The casing 11 when once in position opposite any tube 1 forms practically an eXtension of the tube, the cleaner being free to advance from the extension into and through the tube, as shown in the illustration in Fig. 1. i

tubes thereof, a casing inserted through agiven hole and against the end of the tube, a cutter with a stem or shaft freely passing through said casing, the wall of the casingr beingprovided with peripheral openings discharging into the space between the boilerhead and the plate in which the water-tubes terminate, substantially as set forth.

2. In combination with a boiler-head having a series of hand-holes opposite the watertubes thereof, a casing inserted through a given hole and against the end of the tube, a cutter with a stem or shaft freely passing through said casing, the wall of the casing being provided with peripheral openings discharging into the space between the boilerhead and the plate in which the water-tubes terminate, and a latch on the casing engaging the wall of an adjacent hole, substantially as set forth.

3. In combination with a boiler-head having a series of hand-holes opposite the watertubes thereof, a casing inserted through a given hole and against the end of the tube, a cutter with a stern or shaft freely passing through the casing and a spring-controlled latch on the casing engaging the wall of an adjacent hole, substantially as set forth.

` 4. A tubular casing having an outer contracted hollow nipple for the passage of a hose, and having a rear perforated portion for the discharge of waste waters., the rear end of the casing terminating in a flange for engaging the end of a boiler-tube, a cutter with a stem or shaft freely passing through the casing and a spring-controlled latch mounted at the forward portion of the casing for engaging the wall of a hand-hole formed in the boiler-head opposite a tube contiguous :to that with which the casing 1s in temporary engagement, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof we afhX our signatures-1n presence of two witnesses.

MICHAEL AssEN.

FREDERICK P. EIKMANN, JR. Witnesses:

EMU; STAREK,

Jos. A. MICHEL. 

